Could Edin Dzeko hold the key to deals for Leandro Damiao or Edinson Cavani?

Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur are keen to seal deals for the South American players, and the Bosnian striker could be vital to at least one of the moves.

In the weeks leading up to the transfer window it looked like Marion Balotelli would be the Manchester City striker most likely to be used by the club to aid their pursuit of targets like Edinson Cavani, with Italian clubs keen on bringing the high maintenance striker home.

However it looks more likely that Edin Dzeko will be the player that could interest the likes of Napoli and Inter, and City could use him to either help their pursuit of Cavani, or indirectly aid Tottenham Hotspur's pursuit of Leandro Damiao.

This could get complicated, but to try and some up the situation according to reports: Inter want Damiao or Dzeko, Manchester City want Cavani, Napoli want to keep Cavani and add Damiao or Dzeko, and Spurs want Damiao. Balotelli could also play a part in any transfer merry go round, but things are convoluted enough without adding the combustible Italian to proceedings.

To try and sign Cavani, Manchester City could look to aid the deal by either selling Dzeko to Napoli as part of the transfer, or sell the Bosnian elsewhere to raise funds.

Tottenham Hotspur are current favourites to sign Damiao, but Inter and Napoli are reportedly set to step up their interest in the Brazilian if they cannot sign a different striker. Spurs will hope that Dzeko moving to Inter can ensure that the Milan club cool their interest in Damiao, although if City then sign Cavani, Napoli will have the funds to step up their interest in the Brazilian.

All of this looks unlikely to happen in January, so Spurs will have to hope that the Italian interest in Damiao is being drummed up by Internacional in their attempt to prise as much money as they can from the thrifty Daniel Levy.

But with interest from so many parties, there are deals to be struck, and if one move goes through, then there could be a rush of activity.

Nick Harris

I'm Nick Harris, Spurs fan and sports writer. Alongside HITC, I'm the founder, editor, writer, and fan of footballspirals.com and can be found on Twitter - @nicksharris. When I'm not watching sport I'm usually drinking coffee and checking updates on my phone in an antisocial manner.